2008 World Titles

Nation

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Great Britain

9

2

0

Nederlands

3

3

2

Belarus

2

0

1

France

1

3

3

USA

1

1

1

Cuba

1

1

0

New Zealand

1

0

0

Denmark

0

2

1

Lithuania

0

2

0

Germany

0

1

4

Australia

0

1

3

China

0

1

0

Ukraine

0

1

0

Greece

0

0

1

Italy

0

0

1

Russia

0

0

1

Manchester World Championships - Day 5Dateline 30 March 2008Jennie Reed gained a gold medal and Rainbow jersey for the USA with a win in the Keirin over double world champion Victoria Pendleton. Hayden Godfrey took the Omnium for New Zealand and Teun Mulder took advantage of Chris Hoy’s absence to win the Kilo. Eleonora Van Dijk took the 10km and her win gave the Nederlands second place in the national medal table. Official Results...

UCI President Pat McQuaid was quoted as saying that 2008 was the most successful world track championships ever staged by the UCI.Full houses and enthusiastic support for all five days was great to see. Hopefully the media will at last take note.But the actual coverage on BBCi was less than announced before the start; despite the scale of the home successes. And “non-sport” news presenters at the BBC are still at the level of “I don’t understand how it (the Madison) works..... it’s very confusing...”. Perhaps some in-house training is needed.Finally congratulations must go the event organisers, Events Group / World Track Cycling Limited, and the Manchester Velodrome staff for making the week work so well.

Manchester World Championships - Day 4Dateline 29 March 2008Holland’s Marianne Vos claimed victory in the Points Race to make a unique treble by winning World Championships in the Track, Road and Cyclo-cross disciplines. And Team GB went even further ahead in the national medal table with more gold for Chris Hoy in the Keirin and Bradley Wiggins who partnered Mark Cavendish in the Madison. Pictures...Official Results...

Manchester World Championships - Day 3Dateline 28 March 2008Belarus added a second gold medal to their tally when Vasili Kiryienka won the Points Race and raised team spirits after a serious crash by sprinter Natallia Tsylinskaya. Team GB continued with their medal harvest with golds for Chris Hoy and the Women’s Team Pursuit squad; who completed the clean sweep of the four pursuit events. Pictures...

Manchester World Championships - Day 2Dateline 27 March 2008It was a repeat of Day 1 for the home crowd has Wiggins helped power the GB pursuit team to a world record in winning the team pursuit final against Denmark. Australia took bronze and were the first to congratulate the GB riders on taking their record. Pictures...

Manchester World Championships - Day 1Dateline 26 March 2008The highlight for the home crowd was the repeat win by Bradley Wiggins in the Individual Pursuit - see CyclingNews and BBC Sport for their reports. Pictures...

Outline Programme17 March 2008The main points of the championship programme have been published and are now included in the table below.

The German Cycling Federation has announced a team of 14 men and 7 women. The men are Robert Bartko, Daniel Becke, Hennign Bomel, Robert Bengsch, Patrick Gretsch, Olaf Pollack, Roger Kluge, Marcel Kalz, Carsten Bergemann, Rene Enders, Robert Förstemann, Maximilian Levy, Stefan Nimke and Michael Seidenbecher. For the women the team members are Charlotte Becker, Elke Gebhardt, Alexandra Sontheimer, Verena Jooß, Dana Glöß, Christin Muche and Miriam Welte.

The USA team includes Michael Blatchford, Adam Duvendeck, Michael Friedman, Bobby Lea, Colby Pearce and Taylor Phinney for the men and Sarah Hammer, Becky Quinn and Jennie Reed for the women.

The Australian selectors are not making final decisions about the men’s endurance team until the eve of the championships but the firm places have gone to Ryan Bayley, Daniel Ellis, Mark French, Shane Kelly, Ben Kersten, Shane Perkins and Scott Sunderland for the men; with Kaarle McCulloch, Anna Meares, Katherine Bates, Belinda Goss and Katie Mactier being selected for the women.

Manchester World Championships

Day

Events

BBC TV coverage

Wednesday26 March 2008

Men Individual PursuitMen Scratch RaceMen Team SprintWomen 500m Time Trial

1515-1700, BBCi1900-2000, BBC TWO2000-2200, BBCi2320-2400, BBC TWO

Thursday27 March 2008

Men Team PursuitWomen Individual PursuitWomen Team SprintMen Sprint Rounds & Quarter Final

10 March 2008With two weeks to go to the start of racing the UCI has published the list of qualifying countries. This year there will be 47 nations represented. The pro’s with serious track ambitions have tried to avoid potential UCI sanctions by not starting in Paris-Nice. And all the leading names are expected to be present - Theo Bos, Sergi Escobar, Juan Llaneras, Bradley McGee, Anna Mears, Marianne Vos, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, etc.The first day (Wednesday) features the Individual Pursuit, Scratch Race, Team Sprint and the Women’s 500m Time Trial. Tickets via link below.I hope to be there myself for at least some of the finals but if you cannot make it then the BBC will be covering the action; see info box right plus the BBC Sport website